In a recent report from Barclays Wealth International (BWI) new immigrants to Australia gave their main reasons for relocating. The top reason for the move to Australia, cited by 26.14 per cent of the respondents, was to improve their standard of living. Closely followed by the thriving economy, as stated by 11.36 per cent. A more adventurous 6.8 per cent said that their main reasons for moving to Australia was to have access to many interesting parts of the world, including the New Zealand, the South Pacific and south-wast Asia, and a fairer cost of living was identified as the main reason for moving to Australia by 5.6 per cent of people.

So, does Australia deliver? Where lifestyle is concerned, it seems to be a no-brainer. The ou-door mentality, the sheer enjoyment of life, plus the weather, which, for those from… Read more

Just when we thought we’d be leaving the expensive lifestyle behind, Melbourne gets ranked eighth most expensive city in the world, according to a survey carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Dubai comes in miserly 17th place. Marvellous. Not only are we heading back to paying taxes, also the cost of living increases. There goes the teenager’s uni fund, well, the imagined fund which we had hoped to establish whilst in Oz…

The survey looked at prices for one kilo (!) of white bread, a kilo of white rice (boys, have you never heard of eating healthier, unrefined brown foods?) and one litre of unleaded petrol. I would have found a kilo of carrots, a bottle of wine, and the average monthly rent more interesting, but what do I know. Once thing I do know is that the survey also lists as the cheapest city Muscat… Read more